Best Italian food I had in Italy. This is a must. The pasta, meat and cheese were out of this…read moreworld. This is my biggest recommendations.

Bernala is not a town you might find yourself in on a tour of Italy. About 3 hours South-ish of…read moreNaples and 5 hours south of Rome, this is not really a town for tourists, though it is an absolutely beautiful small Italian town full of nice people ... 40 minutes from the amazing ancient city of Mattera, several archeological sites and a beautiful beach. We were staying at Palazzo Margherita in Bernalda and they arranged for us to see the owners of this shop make cheese in the morning. I am not sure if this is something the shop does for the public, but I would imagine if you called them, or contacted them through their social media sites, the might arrange something. It's well worth the price to see behind the scenes of this family business and includes a delicious cheese plate. Simply put, this is the best cheese I've ever eaten. It is made fresh each day and it is exactly what you'd want in a mozzarella cheese ... soft, wet in the center, salty and just perfect. They do not have cheese in the United States this good ... the owner told us the secret is the freshness and the milk, which is sourced from a local dairy. We had 5 varieties of cheese, each one of them was swoon worthy! That night at the palazzo, they melted a special cheese from here over a fire. The owner had told us the story of the cheese's origins. I semi-remember that it had to do with a horseback rider ... I was so engulfed in the amazing taste of the cheese, I was not as attentive as I should have been. Even if you don't do the cheese making demonstration, there is a very cute shop in the front of the store with local products from Bernalda (aside from the cheese which is made in the back of the shop) including several wines. The owner was nice enough to recommend a perfect, bold local wine. We loaded up on local Italian products as well. If you are in Mattera, or the nearby beaches, it's worth a stop here. This is a small, family run store and the owner (son) speaks some English which helped us because my understanding of Italian is not good. This was one of our most memorable experiences in Italy. Not only because the cheese is amazing ... as are the stories behind it ... but because we were able to be welcomed into the shop by the family who runs it and treated like friends. Grazie mille!